Probably not over 55. Yet drug and alcohol abuse among older adults is on the rise.

Between 1995 and 2002, the number of substance abuse treatment admissions for people 55 and older increased by 32 percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2005).

Typically, older drug addicts aren’t abusing “street” drugs like heroin or cocaine. They’re abusing what’s already in their medicine chests: prescription drugs. And they’re not alone; more than 15 million people in the United States are abusing prescription drugs, which is more than the combined number of people abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin. And lest you think this isn’t a problem, overdose deaths associated with prescription drugs outnumber overdose deaths by all combined illicit drugs.

Furthermore, while about 10 percent of the nation’s population abuses alcohol, that number jumps to as much as 17 percent when looking at adults 65 and older.